Joel Armia wins Olympic Bronze Medal!

Congratulations to LA Kings forward Joel Armia, who won his first Olympic medal earlier today after a victory over Team Slovakia in the bronze-medal game! Armia was prolific in a 6-1 win over Team Slovakia, as he collected a goal and two assists, bringing his point total to eight for the tournament, tying him for fourth in total scoring.

It was a really nice tournament from Armia, who led his team in scoring during the group stage, as Finland earned a bye directly to the quarterfinals as the top-ranked second-place team. Armia was the only player on Team Finland to collect a point in all three games in the opening round of the tournament. He picked up the primary assist on his team’s only goal scored in a 4-1 defeat against Team Slovakia and scored a huge shorthanded goal next time out, a 4-1 win over Team Sweden. He added his first multi-point game in a convincing, 11-0 win over Team Italy in the final game of the group stage, as he netted a goal and an assist to finish out group play with a team-high four points (2-2-4) from four games played.

In the quarterfinals, Armia played a tournament-high 14:05 in a comeback win over Team Switzerland, setting the stage for a huge game against Team Canada in the semifinals. Midway through the second period, Armia did what he does best and that’s help flip the script while on the penalty kill. With Team Finland already leading 1-0, Armia made a good defensive play along the boards, helping to strip the puck away, before he got a clearance down the wall. His clearance caught the Canadian power play coming the other way, against the grain, which sent forward Erik Haula on a shorthanded breakaway, which he buried for a 2-0 lead. Ultimately, Team Finland couldn’t hold on, as a couple of controversial goals, along with a powerful Canadian push back, sent them into the bronze-medal game with a 3-2 defeat.

In today’s bronze-medal game, Armia once again helped Team Finland to a victory, as his team concluded the 2026 Winter Olympics with a record of 5-2-0. Armia had an assist early on the eventual game-winning goal, before he picked the empty net late, on top of a second assist. The medal today helps Team Finland continue the most extensive collection of hardware at the Winter Olympics of any country since NHL players were allowed to participate. With the bronze medal today, Team Finland has earned a medal in five of the six Olympic Winter Games that have featured NHL players, the only country to have five medals in that span. Finland won a silver medal in 2006 and has now won a bronze medal on four separate occasions – 1998, 2010, 2014 and 2026. Armia is now a part of that for his country and showcased himself well as his second best-on-best international tournament, his first Winter Olympics.

Now, his focus shifts back to the Los Angeles Kings, where he will return and should be good to go for the team’s first game back on Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

I wouldn’t expect to see Armia at practice tomorrow by any stretch. Perhaps he’s on the ice on Tuesday for the final skate before the game against the Golden Knights, but it might just be on gameday that we see him. He’ll have a long flight back from Italy and he’s earned a couple of days off here, since being in shape and having his conditioning up to speed won’t be a problem. Where exactly Armia slots into a new-look forward group is unclear. He’ll be somewhere in the bottom six and he’ll be in the everyday lineup, but whether he goes onto Alex Turcotte’s line or Samuel Helenius’ line remains to be seen. The Top-6 appears to be pretty set in place, with Byfield/Kopitar/Moore and Panarin/Laferriere/Kempe. Could see Armia slotting in nicely on either the third or fourth lines, while continuing to contribute on special teams. Will get a sense of that here in a few days, once he’s back with the group.

For today, it’s congratulations that are in order for Joel Armia. A very fine showing in Milan as he represented Team Finland and the Los Angeles Kings well, with a ton of pride. Good to see and congrats to Big Goal Joel.